


things left unsaid

by asterbells



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: ???? i'm so sorry, Angst, F/M, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-30
Updated: 2015-11-30
Packaged: 2018-05-04 01:45:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5315612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asterbells/pseuds/asterbells
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When old crossroads don’t meet and new ones must be made.</p>
            </blockquote>





	things left unsaid

**Author's Note:**

> UHHHH check the warnings I guess? Beta-read by the queen of memes Kira (@simple-symphonia) IDK MAN DO YOU REALLY WANNA READ THIS look I swear I want these two to be happy I really really do they’re going to marry and have 3 kids and a dog and cat and hamster and
> 
> OH RIGHT!! Every use and switch of "Adrien" and "Chat Noir" are very much on purpose because for me there's a certain vulnerability that Adrien can afford but Chat Noir cannot uvu

* * *

 

Marinette’s funeral was held a week after the accident.

There wasn’t any warning, any prelude, just a red-eyed Madame Bustier announcing the news one morning.

The entire class attended the funeral, everyone bringing their own tribute for their lost classmate. Nathanael brought a drawing, Chloe brought her bracelet, Adrien brought the hat she designed.

Alya brought a video for her eulogy.

When Adrien left, Marinette’s parents stopped him, with tearful smiles, and handed him back the hat.

“She designed this for you, didn’t she? She’d have liked for you to keep it.”

“Thank you for keeping it all this time and bringing it with you, even with all the trouble it gives you.”

* * *

 

Adrien was lying in bed, staring at the ceiling. He’d been lying there for two hours already.

“Hey Plagg?”

The black cat kwami flew over to his shoulder, he’d been getting worried about his chosen’s silence.

Adrien didn’t even shift his gaze from the ceiling. “I could have saved her, I could’ve saved Marinette.”

Plagg took a deep breath.

He’d been alive for a long time, but these talks never got easier.

“No, no you couldn’t have.”

At that, Adrien finally shifted his gaze to the kwami, “Why would you say that? If I’d been more dedicated, I could have been on patrol. I could have been the hero Paris deserves, the hero Marinette needed.” Plagg simply floated closer to the boy, knowing his answer wouldn’t be any kinder in truth.

“Because you were busy. You had a photoshoot at the time, remember? You’re not just Chat Noir, you’re Adrien Agreste and you have your own life to live. Even if you didn’t have that photoshoot, even if you were free and went on patrol, you wouldn’t have gone to patrol there. You never do, not even Ladybug patrols there.” Plagg landed on Adrien’s shoulder, leaning against his neck.

“You want to, everyone wants to, but, you know, you can’t save them all, Adrien.”

Plagg laid against Adrien in silence, having said his piece. If he felt his charge shaking slightly, if he heard a sob break free,

Well, no one would ever believe a black cat-like fairy anyways, would they.

* * *

 

_Where’s Ladybug?!_

Chat Noir raced across the rooftops, hand gripping his staff as he tried to reach Ladybug, skidding to a stop as a wave of foam crashed in front of him. Cursing under his breath, he jumped to the side, avoiding the slippery slopes of the newly “cleaned” roof.

“What’s the matter Chat Noir? Don’t like baths? I’ll clean you up along with the rest of this city!!” Slickster cackled, as he released another torrent of foam onto the streets with a hose, watching as the unlucky bystanders started slipping over the slippery streets.

Chat grimaced as he realized that most of the streets and rooftop around were now slicked over with soap. He shut his communicator off as he turned to face Slickster. Wherever Ladybug was, she certainly wasn’t coming anytime soon. Twirling his baton, he dropped into a ready position as he surveyed the area.

“Oooh, finally ready to hand over your Miraculous, little kitty?”

_There. The fire hydrant._ If he plays his cards right, he should be able to get close enough to at least grab the scout badge pinned to Slickster’s shirt, what looks to be the akumatized item. He’d have to figure out what to do after that when he actually got that far.

_“Cataclysm!!”_

__

* * *

 

“I don’t get it Plagg she _always_ shows up! But she didn’t! And now we have an akumatized civilian **—** _he's like_ _12_ _ **—**_  tied up and knocked out in an _abandoned warehouse how cliche can we get,_ and I don’t even know what to do with this badge? I can’t break it and risk the akuma running free, or not being able to reverse the damage at all? What do we do Plagg? Why isn’t Ladybug responding?”

Adrien combed a hand through his hair as he sighed in frustration. With the hydrant’s burst of water after a well placed Cataclysm, he’d been able to push back Slickster long enough to aim a well placed chop to the back of his neck. When the akuma victim fell slack, Chat Noir deftly caught him with one arm, grabbing the badge in the other. He’d quickly ran off and deposited his load in a relatively obscure warehouse owned by his father.

He’d have to go and bring him food later.

Plagg stayed silent, staring out the window, for once, completely solemn and serious.

“Hey, Adrien.”

Adrien stiffened at Plagg’s tone. It wasn’t… harsh per se, or directed at him in particular, but…

It was… _old_.

“...Plagg?”

Without turning away from the window, Plagg asked, “That time, with the Evillustrator. Ladybug told you about Marinette—” Adrien ignores the sharp twists in his chest at the reminder of his classmate, “—did she say how she knew her? Did Ladybug say how she knew Marinette?”

Plagg looks at Adrien now, all sharp stares, serious tones, and Adrien falters just a bit.

“I- I’m not sure she just told me about the circumstances? Could she have known Marinette too? I don’t—”

But Plagg has already turned away again, looking out the window, looking far past any of the views it holds.

No matter how much Adrien pesters him after that, Plagg remains silent for the rest of the night.

When Adrien goes to sleep, Plagg flies out into the night.

* * *

 

The next morning, Adrien wakes up early to bring some food to Slickster as Chat Noir.

As he sneaks into the warehouse, he silently crouches down in front of the poor boy, porridge ladled out on a spoon. He gets distracted as he thinks about what he’ll have to do today, how he’ll try to locate Ladybu—

There’s a sharp pain in his ribcage as Slickster shoves into him with his shoulder and slips out of his ropes ( _shit_ shit _**Slickster** how could I forget_ ) before being tackled and having the akumatized badge he’d been keeping in his pocket be stolen away.

Adrien hd barely enough time to gather his bearings before rolling out the way of another foamy blast. He hears another cackle before ducking into a corner to jump outside.

_“Useless without your lady now aren’t we, little stray?”_

__

* * *

 

God _damn it_.

Ladybug is still missing, Slickster knows how Chat Noir wants to counter him and is adamantly avoiding all water sources, civilians are being pulled into the fray again, Plagg is silent across their mental link, and _Ladybug is still missing_.

Chat touches down again as he jumps to avoid another water torrent, unable to do much without water or a long range weapon which is really why Ladybug needs t—

His thoughts are cut short as a red yo-yo whizzes past him and knocks Slickster to his feet.

__

_That’s—_

“Ladyb—” Chat whips around, a pleased cry escaping his lips before—

It’s not her.

It’s not Ladybug.

Well, it is, it’s the mask, the suit, the yo-yo, but, it’s not her, it’s not his Ladybug.

“—ug?”

Ladybug is staring back at him, but she’s just a bit too short, hair a bit too brown, eyes a bit too blue and—

Her eyes.

They don’t hold the normal, confident gaze Chat sees in Ladybug. They’re hesitant, scared, confused, and, and nervous?

But he can’t think about it anymore as Slickster blasts the both of them with a torrent of foam and he’s pulling himself and Ladybug-But-Not-Ladybug out of the way. If he’s being honest with himself, he doesn’t _want_ to think about it anymore, doesn’t want to make the connections that have been slowly creeping into his mind since the previous night with Plagg's unnerving question and silence.

Tersely, he addresses Ladybug ( _but not Ladybug_ ), “Your Lucky Charm. Quickly call it out now and we can end this.”

Whoever she is, she’s not sure what she’s doing. She just needs to be ready to purify the akuma and fix the city.

Chat will do everything else.

_“Cataclysm!!”_

__

\--

“M-Miraculous La-Ladybug...?...!!”

With a (rather dismal if you asked for Chat’s opinion) toss, the lucky charm and Miraculous Cleansing Light is flying across the city to fix all the damage done in the fight with Slickster, of whose civilian form was currently groaning against the rooftop.

Wasting no time, Chat grabs Ladybug ( _but **not**_ ) before she leaves. He loosens his grip at her squeak but doesn’t let go. “What’s going on? Who are you? You’re not Ladybug, not the Ladybug that I’ve been working with all this time, not the one who’s been saving Paris with me. Why do you have her powers? Her suit? Her Miraculous? Wh _ere is she what’s going on!?_ ”

If he were completely himself right now, he’d be acknowledging and feeling the spark of guilt at the fear and confusion on the girl’s face, but he can’t see can’t feel anything past the rushing blood in his ears, the roaring truth he doesn’t want to see (he _can’t_ see) with this Ladybug, this _not_ Ladybug, and—

And she’s stammering and red in the face, tears springing out in the corner of her eyes as she fearfully stares up at him, “I-I don’t know! I really don’t! I just- There was this thing.. I think it called itself a- a kwami? And it said I had to- I had to—”

_BEEP BEEP_

__

With a frightened yelp, she twists out of Chat’s grip and runs off with a quick _“I’m sorry!”_ before jumping across a rooftop and making her way back to safety and anonymity.

Adrien’s arm falls to his side as his beep rings, staring past the empty rooftop, past the Parisian sky as he tries to collect his thoughts. Collect himself.

Without a word he jumps off the roof and into an isolated alley before the final beep of his ring can sound.

* * *

 

It’s not until he’s back in his room that he finally speaks.

“Plagg. Plagg what happened to Ladybug. You know something don’t you, you knew something was wrong with Ladybug.”

It’s not even a question, and the kwami stays silent as he resumes his perch at the window.

_“Plagg.”_

__

“What do you want me to tell you kid? Anything I can tell you, you already know.” Plagg turns around to face him, and for the first time, Adrien realizes just how _old_ the kwami is.

But still, he shakes his head, because it _can’t_ be, it _can’t_ , it’s just not _possible_ — “You- you asked me about Marinette, Plagg, please. _Please_ it can’t, it _can’t_ be Plagg I- _Ladybug_ \- Ladybug is—”

Softly, gently, kindly—

“Ladybug is dead Adrien. The Ladybug you knew was Marinette. She died last week in a car accident.”

And Adrien’s world comes crashing down.

There’s a roaring rush in his ears and he can’t hear anything, can barely register Plagg’s explanations about how when he tried to contact Ladybug’s communicator, he could only feel Ladybug’s kwami, unbonded, without a charge, and how he had gone out in the middle of the night to fin—

_“NO.”_

Adrien grasps the front of his shirt, chest heaving, it’s _not_ — _she’s_ not—

“ _No_ Plagg it _can’t_ be it _can’t_ be!” Desperate, he's shouting, screaming, denying, rejecting, _challenging_ , the truth laid bare in front of him. “She’s _Ladybug_ , she’s _Ladybug she would’ve been fine she’s everything she’s Lady Luck_ —”

__

“Sometimes… sometimes even all the luck in the world can’t prevent sad things from happening, can’t save everyone from everything.”

Adrien whips his head up at the sound of a new voice. Next to Plagg, is a tiny, red colored fairy with a black spot on her forehead.

A _kwami_.

_Ladybug’s_ kwami.

She smiles sadly at him, “Hello Adrien, I’m Tikki. I’m the kwami who holds power over Ladybug’s Miraculous, just like how Plagg holds yours.” Flying over to rest her head on his, she murmurs, “Plagg found me last night while I was searching for a new Ladybug, I’m sorry we had to meet like this.”

Tikki floats back a bit, smiling sadly at the shell-shocked boy. She spends the rest of the night telling a story about a baker’s daughter, about her life and story as a student and superhero. How she lived and how she loved, loved so much and so hard, loved to the point she’d do anything for those around her, running herself ragged to the ground everyday. How the sweet, loving girl saw a child in the streets one day, how there was a car speeding without any sign of slowing. How her last words thanked the moon and stars that the child was safe.

When Adrien cries again that night, over lost loves, lost opportunities, lost luck and lost time, he has two others mourning with him, surprisingly heavy and grounding, for such small and airy beings.

* * *

 

Adrien stands in front of her grave, this time, with a bouquet of lilies and carnations and the Valentine’s poem he’d thrown away but rewritten, tucked underneath a singular rose.

He gently places the bouquet down, careful not to squish the flowers or let the card come loose.

Before standing back up, he places a mask over the gravestone, a silent homage to the hero Paris will never know she lost.

With a last, sad smile, Adrien walks back to where his ride waits.

“Hey, Plagg?”

“Mm?”

“Should we let her parents know? Alya?”

“Mmm... it’s up to you. You’d have to reveal yourself though, you know that right?”

“Hmm... yeah... but I don’t think I mind. They deserve to know the truth, don’t you think?”

“She’d probably thank you for it.”

“...”

“Adrien?”

“...Yeah. Yeah I think so too.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> LOLOL WELL IT’S A REVEAL AMIRITE (look it was this for MLCountdown Day 1 or [see you again](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5265419) and see you again is like the not reveal s o)
> 
> According to [teleflora](http://www.teleflora.com/funeral-sympathy-collection/funeral-flowers-meaning) lilies “symbolize the innocence that has been restored to the soul of the departed”, white carnations “pure love and innocence”, and a single rose is “enduring love for the deceased” (Adrien my son pls move on pls be happy)
> 
> Comments are always lovely :’)
> 
> this was actually written a long time ago tbh i just didn’t have a good time to post it lmao
> 
> i am a lonely soul:  
> tei-gen @ tumblr  
> asterbell_s @ twitter  
> mod tei @ MLStaffAppreciation @ tumblr


End file.
